Exercitus Crystallis: Omake Chapters
by LeGrande Grover
Summary: These are chapters that do not fall into the main storyline of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon; Exercitus Crystallis. They will mostly revolve around the Inner senshi and their interactions with the new Four Kings.


Exercitus Crystallis: Rei's Omake Chapter

To Conquer a Chronic Fever

In the last days of winter, as spring began to sneak into the biting cold weather in Tokyo, Rei stood out in the grounds of the Hikawa Shrine. A cold breeze was pushing through the sounds of the city and the remnants of a cold rain had just begun to dissipate from the ancient green stones that littered the grounds. It was a nice breeze, though it bore the memory of winter in its chilly grasp. Even through her winter robes, she could feel it touching her skin. It made her shiver. Yet, there was something poetic about standing tall against a cold breeze, letting it wisp through your hair and paint your cheeks and nose a rosy color of red.

Rei sneezed. It was not so poetic after all – just cold.

Using her hand, she stitched her robe closed near the nape of her neck and stepped off a jagged step onto the hard, compressed ground in the middle of the shrine. She had been busy tending to her duties, more or less undisturbed since there were not many visitors at the moment and a large, prominent meeting of Shinto priests had been arranged at large, historical shrine elsewhere in Tokyo. Her grandfather had gone earlier in the morning, leaving her to tend to the shrine alone.

Well, almost alone.

Hearing the scrapping of reeds over stone, Rei's pace slowed a bit and she winced, knowing what she would fine around the corner of one of the outlying buildings. It was not as if she feared what waited there, but rather that she never knew what to expect when she faced him. Perhaps if he were more animate and disorderly, she would know how to read him or understand what he was thinking. In fact, she wished she could read him at all. His demeanor always left her feeling defensive, as if he were always trying to deceive her. Due to his entrance into her world, she could hardly expect otherwise.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped around the corner and was faced with her nemesis. He was busy sweeping the walkway, silently and fighting the same breeze she had been. His own long, mahogany hair swayed at his back as be moved and those same dark eyes were fixed to the area where he worked, making sure to address every speck of dirt that had settled on top of the stone walkway.

Sensing her presence, the young man looked up and fixed his eyes on her, his shoulders bringing his sweeping to a halt. As always, there was no change in his expression, for he always wore a serious mask, as if he were constantly deep in thought. Seeing him look back at her, her lips pursed tight.

Securing both hands to his broom, he bowed deeply to her, his voice barely making it over the breeze that had seized them both. "Good morning, Rei-sama," he said.

It was the same as every time they met. His voice and tone were fully submissive to her position, with no indication that he meant it sarcastically. It was a tone of sincere respect, though she looked into it for any hint of subversion.

Her enemy. Her ally. The servant of her Princess's beloved. He knew everything about her, yet she somehow knew nothing about his true self. His power, and even his existence, was an extension of her own, but she had always felt violated about that. He was an amalgamation of the essence of many spiritual masters, holy men and priests. From this, he held the knowledge of those years beyond him, and a shard of the power that allowed her to serve as a Sailor soldier. People came from all around to speak to him and hear his insight, and his notoriety had grown so much that he had been invited to attend the same conference that her grandfather had departed for early that morning. Despite his quiet demeanor, he was gaining influence and power without even showing interest in it.

It was another reason for her to weary of him.

Despite all of this, he bowed to her deeply and regarded her with such reverence; she could barely accept that he meant it.

Once more, it threw her off balance. "Good morning, Yasuhiro-kun," she replied dryly, her tone barely remaining civil. She had become accustomed to calling to him in a condescending tone, despite the fact he appeared older than her. In truth, he was thousands of years old, but also barely passed one year since coming into her world as he did. He was a child to her, but also a tome. It was yet another one of his contradictions that annoyed her. "If you don't leave soon, grandfather will be angry at you," she continued, trying to hide the fact that she was deeply annoyed he would be invited to such a prestigious event.

Yasuhiro slowly rose to her, his lip slipping back from a smirk that barely caught her attention. She could not interpret it easily, and it caused her eyes to flash. He simply bowed once more, but his voice sounded hesitant. "Yes, Rei-sama. I had only a few more chores before I left," he replied.

Rei lingered a moment to watch him, wondering why he was bothering with such petty matters when he should be more excited at his day. While she pondered, her stance wavered slightly and she stepped back to catch herself, wondering if the wind had suddenly picked up. It was not often when she felt awkward because of her elegance, but she soon found him looking up slightly from his stoop, obviously acknowledging her imbalance.

Flushing a bit in the face, she quickly walked past him, tucking her hair back behind her ear in a clever bid to obscure her face from sight. Entering into the living quarters of the shrine, she slid the door behind her closed and paused, waiting in order to get a good grasp on his movements. No sooner had she become aware of her breathing did she hear his broom going over the stones once more, allowing her to sigh deeply as her danger had faded. For some reason, she was now hotter than usual and flayed open her robes slightly, wondering if the heated house was just a shock to her system. The flushed skin at the top of her chest let out a burst of heat that cooled her down. With the back of her slender hand, she touched her forehead and sighed, wondering why she suddenly felt so hot.

"I must be working too hard," she muttered to herself and proceeded towards her room.

Nearly a half hour passed and Rei stood in the kitchen area, wearing some loose-fitting clothing and a towel around her neck. She was busy pouring herself a cool drink and tapping the towel to her forehead, feeling relieved that she had taken a second shower. It was not as if she felt dirty, but rather hot and sweaty despite the cold weather. It was odd, but something she felt would easily go away once she had a chance to cool down and relax. Since no one would be at the shrine that day, she felt like being a bit naughty and just lounging around. Maybe she would read the book she recently bought. Sometimes, even soldiers fighting for the good of mankind needed to wind down.

However, it was starting to bother her that the steam from her drink was getting into her eyes and she supported herself on the corner of the table, wiping them with her other hand. For some reason, she felt a very heavy weight on her wrist and let out a sigh of surprise when she focused through the steam on her drink. The ice inside clinked a bit against the glass and condensation ran down the smooth surface to the bamboo table below. Her heartbeat became loud in her ears and the sounds of the world around her became swollen.

"Wha…" she began, but could not even finish the word. With a blast of heat coming from her exposed skin, she fell to her knees next to the table and then to the floor below. The last sound she heard was the glass sliding across the table and shattering, then a sharp pain in her arm.

Then, there was only darkness.

* * *

In the eternity of darkness, time passed very slowly for Rei. She felt as if she had been asleep for days, for her body ached and was heavy to move. It felt like there was a sack of rice on her chest and a space heater next to her body, yet all of these sensations felt like they were pushed through a misty window. Sometimes, her body felt like it was in a river being tossed side to side by the current, but then she would feel softness that consumed her and made her stretch to embrace it. She was cold, then warm and finally, burning hot. Her ears felt sore and everything sounded like the drone of the brakes on a city bus coming to a stop.

She had no idea what was going on.

Finally, after struggling against this unknown feeling, she felt strong enough to open her eyes, seeing only a blurry collection of lines and shadows dancing in front of her. Her senses slowly returned, but depleted. Her whole body was sore, yet she felt entombed by something soft and inviting to her.

She was in a futon. This was not her room, but rather one of the antechambers of the shrine where ceremonies were sometimes held. She could tell by then that the covers around her were much heavier than her usual bedding and that something cool was on her forehead. It was a strange feeling, considering no one else was supposed to be at the shrine, but she could not tell how long she had been asleep, so she suspected that her grandfather had returned by then.

"Ojii-chan…" she whispered weakly and struggled to feel what was on her forehead. Finding a wet cloth there, she sighed and let her hand fall back under the covers, relaxing a bit as she assumed her grandfather had been looking after her.

"Please rest, Rei-sama. You are ill," said a voice that shocked her, for it was not that of her grandfather. At first, she had trouble realizing who's voice it was, but she panicked even further when she realized who it was that had been taking care of her. Turning her head slightly, her eyes focused on the figure kneeling next to her, realizing that it was none other than her nemeis, Yasuhiro.

"Ya…kun?" she stammered weakly half in surprise and half in embarrassment.

"Do you need something, Rei-sama?" he responded, sitting up slightly on his toes so he could go fetch whatever she required.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, closing her eyes to the situation. This was like a bad dream, and a part of her quietly suspected that he had something to do with this. Her memory was a bit foggy and she could only remember a few things before she collapsed, but she did remember having something to drink before she did. Had she the strength, she would have accused him of drugging her, but she could only break her eyes open enough to see his concerned face.

"I found you collapsed in the kitchen area. It appears you're running a high fever. The doctor has already come and prescribed lots of rest. He said you should be feeling better by the you're your school begins on Monday," he explained, settling back into his kneeling position.

Rei took a deep breath and closed her eyes, placing her hand across her sweat-laced chest. She had been feeling a bit feverish before she collapsed and guessed that working outside had done her in. She had not been sick in a long time, so she was a bit surprised by how quickly it had struck her.

As more of her brain became unclouded, she stirred a bit to get more comfortable and her voice became a bit stronger. "How did I get here?" she asked, almost to herself.

Yasuhiro stirred a bit uncomfortably and cleared his throat, alerting her to his mood. "I…carried you, Rei-sama," he declared.

Rei nodded at first, then had flashes of her time in the darkness where she felt a softness and embraced it, feeling fearful of the unsure blackness around her. Suddenly feeling very hot in the face, her eyes darted to him and she almost sat up, though her heavy body prevented that. "Eeeeh? You carried me?" she demanded, to which he timidly nodded. "I…did I do anything…strange?" she asked, sliding her face down behind the covers slightly and puffing her cheeks out a bit.

Yasuhiro's face began a bit flushed and he cleared his throat again, his dark eyes jarred to the side. "You were feverish and unconscious. It was nothing to speak of," he replied, to her dread.

She suddenly felt like burying her face deep in the comforter and crying, if only because it would hide her sheer embarrassment. There was little she could say at the moment, considering who it was that had put his arms around her.

In her fit, he continued speaking, though begrudgingly, "I did not want to intrude upon Rei-sama's room, so I carried you here and placed you in my futon." The further insult made her glare at him furiously over the lip of the comforter, which made him panic a bit and raise his hands in defense. "However! It's freshly washed and shouldn't offend you!" he cried to placate her.

Rei continued to glare at him harshly, though she could not find the strength to yell at him, as she would have normally. As he struggled with his impeding doom, she stared down at the lip of the comforter that was pulled tightly over her mouth, as she had been actively hiding any part of her body from his sight. Without her consent, she breathed deeply at the fabric, as if trying to detect something there she had never experienced before. There was a distant scent that tickled her nostrils, but she could not tell whether it was detergent, his smell or the fact her nose was still acting funny because of her cold.

Instantly, she was acutely aware of him looking at her and she realized that she was smelling his comforter. Loudly. Hoping desperately that her fever would drown out the blush, she glared back at his inquisitive face and sunk even further into the bedding.

"Aren't you supposed to be gone, anyway? Why are you here?" she blurted, then started coughing as the sudden outburst caught her throat.

Yasuhiro's hand twitched slightly at her outburst of coughing, but he remained in place and watched her, his dark eyes reflecting her convulsing form until it calmed back down. Once she had started breathing normal again, he sighed and relaxed his body a bit. "I was worried, so I waited until the last moment before leaving. It was then I heard the glass breaking and came upon you in the kitchen. I have also tended to the cut on your arm," he explained.

Rei took a hoarse breath and tried to remember what he spoke of, then remembered the glass breaking. Her fingers moved across a bandage on her forearm, and she could feel the stinging cut underneath. It was wrapped very carefully and also gave off a slight scent, so she assumed he had used some kind of balm on it.

Her eyes moved back to him and she was quiet. It was situation such as this that always made her weary around him. He had such a dark pedigree, yet showed such kindness and purity that she could hardly believe he had originally been created to fight the people of the Moon so long ago. At times, she even felt like she wanted to get to know him better, but her own misgivings usually defeated that idea before it even took hold.

"Well, I'm feeling better now so you may go meet up with grandfather now," she said, closing her eyes slowly.

Yasuhiro hesitated a bit, then let out a deep sigh. "I have already informed your grandfather that I will not attend the meeting," he said.

Looking back to him, she was surprised by that. "Why?" she asked.

"It is a place of men who have earned their knowledge through a lifetime of dedication, not someone who has taken it as I have," he replied, seeming a bit discontent with his own station.

His answer was surprising to her and her face slipped out a bit from the covers, her eyes still locked on him. The torches in the room, as this room always had burning torches when occupied, cast shadows across his young face. She could tell he genuinely regret the circumstances behind his creation, though she could hardly let herself admit that. She had grown to distrust him so deeply that sometimes her heart defied her eyes.

She felt compelled to press him further. "But this meeting is filled with influential people. I've never heard of anyone as young as you being invited, so the opportunities to be affiliated with other shrines are…" she began, but he strongly interrupted her.

"Nothing I'm interested in," he said. While he was usually calm, his voice sounded passionate and it took her by surprise. It was not often his hot voice silenced her, so she always paid attention when it did. She could not understand how easily he threw away this great opportunity when so many others would be doing all they could for it.

Yet, there was something odd about his response. She could tell that it was his true feelings and it came from his heart, yet he appeared torn by that, as if something else contradicted those pure thoughts. He appeared very tempted to go, yet unwillingly and against his true wishes.

Her questioning eyes made a serene smile touch his lips and Yasuhiro relaxed a bit, feeling the firelight on his face. "I'm afraid you cannot hear me, not matter how many times I say it, Rei-sama. This is the only place I want to be," he replied coolly.

This was a claim he had made often. Every time he made it, she had the same reaction. His reasoning was beyond all logic and she suspected he actually did it just to get a rise out of her, but she turned away from him and sank deep into the bedding, hiding her face. Her fingers brushed the edge of her lips just under the comforter and she stared at the shadows on the wall, trying to not see his as it loomed above her.

He was an enemy, created thousands of years ago to destroy soldiers like her. He was an ally, now serving Mamoru in some capacity that was unknown to her. He was kind, for everything he did impressed her and caused her to want to trust him. He was cruel for the same reason.

"I'd like to rest now, Yasuhiro-kun," she said breathlessly, keeping her face turned away from him.

He seemed to expect that answer and rose to his feet, stepping over to the door and bowing to her. "After you've rested, I shall return with something warm for you to drink. Please call out to me if you need me," he said.

He did not see her mouth open at his request, for it quickly lost resolve and closed once more as he closed the door behind him. She remained under his bedding, staring at the shadows on the walls. Her fever was just one more thing that made her hate him and her fingertips could feel the heat coming from her body. This sickness was not something she could overcome easily, but she knew, deep in her heart, she could not readily let it consume her.

She was not ready for that. Not again.

"Stupid Yasuhiro," she whispered into the empty room.

* * *

During the day, Rei's fever progressed and she began to show other symptoms. Her coughing resonated in the room and she could feel a sheet of sweat covering her body. It was fortunate that she had already been in comfortable clothes before she collapsed, but she desperately wanted to take a shower again and remove the sheen of cool sweat that covered her feverish body. As much as she simply wanted to sleep through this tribulation, her body would not allow it and she continued to toss and turn under the comforter.

She could not sleep. It was very annoying.

Several hours had passed before Yasuhiro returned to the room, bringing with him a steaming bowl of liquid that had a bitter smell to it. On the tray was a plain cell phone, the kind that most teenagers would be embarrassed to carry with them. It had no features or decorations. It was a plain phone used for the most basic of services. Rei had been gazing at it thoughtlessly as Yasuhiro adjusted the bedding around her, hardly remembering the last time she had seen him use it. The lighting was still active on it, which meant he had just recently used it, however. She found that curious.

"Are you comfortable, Rei-sama?" he asked her, sitting back on his knees as he scanned the bedding for inconsistencies. She managed to groan a response to him as she felt the fever racking her body, but he accepted that as an affirmative. Then, his eyes shifted to his phone. "I just spoke with your grandfather. He has decided stay overnight at the conference, even after I informed him of your condition. He made a strange comment about the joys of being young, though I fail to grasp its meaning," he mused, cocking his head a bit in an attempt to put deeper meaning to the words.

Rei groaned even more and sank into the covers. "I'm going to kill you when you get home, Ojii-chan," she murmured to herself and pressed her eyes closed. She had no patience for his antics, especially now. He had always been fond of Yasuhiro and appeared to have no great qualms with his interest in her. That annoyed her greatly, since she felt she did not need his interference with her life. She could imagine him sitting somewhere with a bunch of other old men roaring in laughter at her expense. That thought made her blood boil.

"However, I shall remain at your side until you recover," Yasuhiro added, falsely interpreting what she was groaning about.

As devoted as he had been, Rei felt her fever pressing all of her patience to the surface of her skin and he, being the greatest bane of her life, had little chance of quelling her anger. She shot him a glance, which made him sit straight, though the utter exhaustion of her condition made her sigh and give up on attacking him as usual. Instead, she turned her head to the side and tried to get comfortable, though her body was not cooperating well. "I'm perfectly all right by myself. Even if you stay, I won't talk to you," she warned.

Yasuhiro considered her words for a moment, then she could hear him sliding the tray closer to her so she would have better access to the bowl of whatever he had brought her. A sigh escaped her lips as she expected to hear the door open as he left. After a few moments, the fact that she did not hear the door caused her to turn back, only to find him kneeling quietly with his eyes closed and his hands in tradition meditation positions.

"Yasuhiro-kun?" she asked quietly, more in surprise than in question.

His eyes opened and he stirred. "Yes? May I get you something?" he asked.

For some reason, she merely stared at him a moment before turning her head back quickly, muffling her voice into the covers as she spoke to him. "No, it's nothing. I'm going to rest now," she said.

Resigning to silence, he regained his posture while she lay uncomfortably just out of arm's reach. The silence of the room, save for the crackling torches, lulled her in and out of sleep, though her complaining body always kept her from getting any real rest. Many times she had been tempted to gaze back over her shoulder to see if he was still there, but she already knew he was. In fact, she knew that he would stay there until she told him to leave.

Somehow, she could not find the strength to make that request.

In her attempts to relieve her aching body, she found herself facing him on her side, though her pride kept her eyes pressed closed and the cover hiding most of her face. There was a certain satisfaction with not letting his presence affect how she would lay there. Even in her weakened state, she could defy him.

In due time, she had found her eyes had betrayed her and cracked open, revealing his motionless figure to her. He knelt there, his hands placed on his thighs and his eyes pressed closed. His lips moved slowly and she suspected he was reciting mantras, though she could not hear his voice. Without knowing it, she stared at his lips and tried to guess what mantra he was speaking, with her own fingers once again brushing against her lips.

Apparently sensing that she was looking at him, he stirred a bit and opened his eyes to address her concern. He found her settling the other way, her shoulders hunched up and the covers clasped tightly around her. What he did not see was her eyes staring harshly at the wall and her hands pressing the comforter against her burning cheeks, as she would have preferred death to being caught looking at him.

Quirking a brow, he continued his meditation as she laid silently in his futon.

Hours passed and the fever began to cloud over her mind. Yasuhiro often changed the towel on her head and he had told her the bitter concoction would make her fever worse, but it would ultimately drive it out faster. His explanation on the ancient herbal remedy had mainly been a drawl in her ears and she suspected it was just another of the countless ancient secrets locked in his mind. All she knew was it was bitter, tasted like radishes and made her feel much worse than she had been.

"I knew it," she groaned to herself, "He's trying to kill me."

This advanced stage of the fever made her mind wander. Since she could not sleep, she was forced to try and muddle through the gray muck which was her consciousness. Thousands of thoughts came and went and she suspected that she was mumbling about many things, though she could not be sure what was real and what her imagination was. Some thoughts were simple, such as the petty little issues that came up in school. Others were deep and made her heart ache when she thought of them, such as bad memories or terrible premonitions. Some of them circled around the young man who was silently tending to her without as much as a word, since he was keenly aware that she harbored little trust for him. Delving into those thoughts made them go deeper, and to places where she did not want to go.

She started feeling helpless against her own wandering heart.

"Why are you here?" she asked in a voice that was louder than her other mumbling. She somehow remembered asking him before and was not satisfied with the answer then. A small part of her wondered if the answer would be any different now.

Yasuhiro slowly opened his eyes and looked upon her, listening to her labored breathing. She could tell he was unsure whether or not she was actually asking the question, but she did not have the power to follow up. She only waited for his answer.

"For you," he responded, though she hated him for it. There was no way to tell whether he meant at that moment, when she was feverish, or why he had taken residence at her grandfather's shrine. Many of his answers to her most serious questions where enigmatic, which always drove her insane.

For once, she wished he would give a direct answer.

"Why?" she asked, being equally elusive.

He gave no answer to that one, but continued to look upon her with his evasive eyes.

She shivered under the covers and wrapped her arms around herself as her eyes fixed loosely on the wall before her. It was a strange conversation, but she felt soothed by it. It seemed to have no meaning, yet waited for his every word. Inwardly, she wondered why she was asking these kinds of questions when she did not want to hear his answers.

"I hate you, you know. More than anyone else," she said bitterly, biting her lip after she said it. It was then followed by a coughing attack that lasted quite a while, showing that her body was fighting off this infection with everything it had.

"I know," was his response, quiet and calm.

A whimper escaped her throat as she fought back another coughing attack. This sickness was assaulting her and tearing her up from the inside, but even as she fought back, her own core was secretly expelling it from her body, making her healthy again.

There was a long silence before she spoke again, "You'll leave someday, won't you?" Her words were more of a statement than a question. By now she was shivering under the covers and trying as hard as she could to defeat the fever. It was coming to its climax and trying all it could to defeat her, but she would not back down so easily. She was stronger than that. She was stronger than it.

She would not be defeated.

"I have my duty, as you have yours," he responded in yet another evasive manner. She knew that he was referring to his duty to Mamoru and the weight of her life as a solider seemed just a bit heavier than the moment before.

"Even if I asked you to stay?" she whispered pitifully. By now, she was void of all defenses and her mind would not filter the words flowing from her heart.

That question seemed to take him by surprise and his brows dropped, as if he suddenly felt conflicted by something he never thought of before. Had she been her normal self, she would have found pleasure in catching him like that. As her core self, she anxiously waiting for an answer that could easily drive the sickness back into her, even deeper than before. It was a terrible thing, to seek recovery and find despair.

She continued to shiver.

"Rei, I…" he began, oddly dropping her honorific as his tone felt heavy.

Suddenly, her loud breathing snared his attention and he blinked, craning his neck to the side to try and see her face. "Rei-sama?" he asked, but there was no answer.

She had fallen asleep, finally getting relief from her sickness. Her face appeared peaceful and relaxed, which in turn made him sigh in relief as well. Fixing her bedding slightly, he returned to a kneeling position next to her and continued his meditation, though her feverish questions did make it difficult for him to concentrate.

It was well into the night that, as she slept, he too fell asleep nearby, lying across the tatami mats; warmed by the torches glowing softly around the room and their hands laying just out of reach of one another.

* * *

A week after Rei's recovery, she walked down the corridor of the living area, carrying a tray with water, a towel and a bowl of a bitter concoction that she had made by randomly throwing ingredients into a pot until it smelled and tasted awful. There had been a distinct pleasure in her voice as she hummed, throwing radishes, wasabi powder, natto and anything else she could think of into the pot. She did not know if it would cure a fever, but it was certainly a sweet revenge.

She carried these items to the door of the ceremony room, knelt down to open it and announced her entrance. A solitary figure was lying in the bedding, embraced by the torches lining the room. Her eyes fell onto the figure and a smile snuck across her face. Just a week ago, that was her bound in the covers and suffering as her hot body writhed against her sickness. She was sure she could not remember some of the things she had said and heard, but there had been no getting the details from her caretaker.

Once more, she felt extremely annoyed by Yasuhiro.

There was not much in conversation as she entered and slid the door closed behind her. Instead, she knelt on a solitary mat and placed the tray to the side, noticing a simple looking cell phone lying next to the figure with the backlight still glowing.

Frowning, she took the cell phone in her hands and turned the power off on it. "Getting your rest means no phone calls," she scolded and watched it go dead. Before putting it down, she glanced at the phone strap that now hung down from the side. It appeared very new, but very generic; a white vinyl strap with a single red ruby-shaped gem at the end. Its presence was somehow calming to her, and she nodded that it was a perfect 'Thank you' present. After examining it with a small smile, she laid the phone down next to the mat.

"So, Yasuhiro-kun," she started as she adjusted herself on her knees and looked over his bedding for inconsistencies, "I've returned with something warm for you to drink," she said as a devilish smile came over her when she held out the steaming concoction, waiting for her intended victim to accept her generosity and begin the healing process.

"If there is anything you need, all you have to do is ask."


End file.
